Timekeeping on Sigma
Introduction During the period of preliminary exploration of the only moon of the large rocky planet known as Tau Sigma 4 (the moon's designation was abbreviated as TS4m, which was again shortened colloquially to simply Sigma), when the moon was still only being considered as one of several potentially promising candidates for future colonisation efforts, astronomers made an interesting discovery as they were analysing its characteristics. Not only was the length of its day similar enough to that of Earth’s to add to the positive aspects the satellite possessed as a candidate for selection, the exact length of its day (roughly 27.84 Earth hours) presented a fascinating opportunity for a revolutionary new system of timekeeping - Metric Time. The length of the day on TS4m was close enough to a total of 100,000 Earth seconds that by simply stretching the length of an Earth second by less than 2.3 milliseconds (barely noticeable by human standards), the wonderfully round total of 100,000 seconds per day could be achieved. This in turn allowed for there to be 10 hours per day, 100 minutes per hour, and 100 seconds per minute (see Table 1). This system came to be known as Sigma Standard Time (SST). A similar project had previously been attempted on Earth, in Revolutionary France during the late 18th century, but it was abandoned after roughly 12 years. An adapted version of the system proved to be much better suited to the natural conditions on Sigma. Metric Time The moon was eventually colonised, and the new, logical timekeeping system was eagerly adopted there. The system became a source of pride among the moon’s early colonists. It proved to be easier to learn and easier to use than the lopsided, archaic system of old Earth, and was a symbol of optimism and progress for many during the heady years of the initial, excited surge of terraforming, populating, and building that defined the first era of the human history of Sigma. The system even gained some measure of popularity among the inhabitants of Earth and the other colonies, especially among their scientific communities, due to its regular nature. For the purposes of adjusting oneself to the differences in time measurements on a day to day basis when using Sigma Standard Time as compared to the old timekeeping system of Earth, the most important thing to remember is that while seconds on Sigma are very similar to those on Earth, there are forty more of them in each minute, and forty more of these longer minutes in an hour as well. Therefore, minutes and hours are significantly longer lengths of time on Sigma than those used in the measuring systems of old Earth. Calendar Seasons and years in themselves meant very little for the inhabitants of Sigma, since the remarkably stable orbits of both the planet and its satellite meant that climatic conditions on the moon were barely altered at all over the course of the planet’s circuit around its sun. In fact, a Tau Sigma 4 year is roughly equivalent to 19.7 Earth years, but this was little more than a point of interest to the inhabitants of its moon, who, despite their horological innovations, wished to maintain some sort of chronological unity with the people of Earth. With this in mind, a new calendar was drawn up which was almost exactly one Earth year in length. It came to be known as the Sigma Standard Calendar, and it consisted of ten months, named after those used in the ancient Romulan calendar (see Table 2). Each month contained either 31 or 32 TS4m days, in an alternating pattern, for a total length of 315 TS4m days per year, or 45 weeks of 7 days each. Just as in the Gregorian calendar of Earth, the Sigma Standard Calendar was not 100% accurate in terms of the length of its year, and so, just like on earth, leap years were used to keep time from slipping too far. The Sigma Standard Calendar had a leap year, in which one day was removed from the end of the final month (December), every 7 years. However, during its long isolation from contact with Earth and the other colonies, the practice of using leap years on Sigma was gradually dropped, as keeping the years exactly in synchronisation with those of Earth became increasingly unimportant to the population. Table 1 - TS4(m) Time measurement, with relevant Earth units for comparison. Values are approximate. *Except leap years. Table 2 - Sigma Standard Calendar Category:Horology Category:Sigma